Monday, March 2, 2009

Fiscal bills face cutoff in the House

Today is the last chance for non-budget fiscal bills to clear their respective committees, so there is no action planned for the House floor. However, you can expect a real flurry of activity in both the Finance and Ways and Means committees.

Starting at 8:00 am, the House Finance Committee will vote to send up to 40 bills to the Rules committee -- the last stop for measures before being considered on the floor.

At 1:30, House Ways and Means will start what is likely to be a very long night. Here is the agenda for today:Public Hearing:SHB 1412 - Concerning health benefit plan coverage of neurodevelopmental therapies.SHB 1560 - Regarding collective bargaining at institutions of higher education.HB 1774 - Excluding certain state forest land revenues from the basic education allocation. (If measure is referred to committee.)SHB 1776 - Changing school levy provisions.HB 1799 - Reducing the release of mercury into the environment.SHB 1914 - Regarding community and technical colleges' maintenance and operations funding. (If measure is referred to committee.)2SHB 1944 - Regarding the development and field testing of a statewide kindergarten assessment process. (If measure is referred to committee.)HB 2041 - Concerning student transportation funding. (If measure is referred to committee.)HB 2291 - Exempting the agricultural commodity commissions from certain administrative cost reductions.SHB 2295 - Concerning the organization of the department of social and health services. (If measure is referred to committee.)Bills referred to committee.Possible Executive Session:HB 2267 - Protecting the collective bargaining rights of certain exempt employees.HB 1329 - Providing collective bargaining for child care center directors and workers.SHB 1701 - Authorizing the department of information services to engage in high-speed internet activities.SHB 1747 - Reducing climate pollution in the built environment.HB 1940 - Requiring that school district and educational service district employees' basic benefits be determined and administered by the state health care authority.HB 1953 - Allowing department of fish and wildlife enforcement officers to transfer service credit.HB 2052 - Delaying the implementation of the health insurance partnership.SHB 2106 - Improving child welfare outcomes through the phased implementation of strategic and proven reforms.HB 2107 - Regarding the delivery of early learning home visitation programs.SHB 2167 - Providing flexibility in the education system.SHB 2239 - Concerning the creation of a student loan program with a dedicated revenue source.HB 2245 - Clarifying public employees' benefits board eligibility.HB 2287 - Requiring state agencies to use one hundred percent recycled content paper.

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